Wednesday, September 16, 2015

It's Book Club Week! Welcome all readers!Tweet #bookclubweek @MysteryLovers and ADD the MLK page link in your browser to help your book club and other book clubs find questions, recipes, and more!Book #giveaway below...even if you aren't in a book club! See details.

Way back when, when I lived in Charlotte, NC, I belonged to a book club. It only lasted a few months. It was hard to get everyone to want to read the same book, meet on the right day, etc. Now that I'm back in Los Angeles, I have to admit that I've been so busy with life I haven't sought a new club. I love to read! But I'm not always into the latest "women's fiction" books. I like mysteries. I have done a few Skype interviews with book club groups that like mysteries, so if you're interested...contact me via my website.

In the meantime, for those book clubs (or readers) who like mysteries, like I do, I couldn't think of a better book to introduce you to than FUDGING THE BOOKS, the 4th in the Cookbook Nook Mystery series, because, in the story, it's not only Pirate Week, it's National Chocolate Month!! And the Chocolate Cookbook Club -- that's right, a cookbook book club, my type of club -- is celebrating!

Here's the blurb:

Pirate Week is sweeping through Crystal Cove
and keeping Jenna Hart and her culinary bookstore, the Cookbook Nook, plenty busy. But she’s
not too swamped to also host the local Chocolate Cookbook Club’s
meeting—especially because the guest of honor is her friend, candy maker and
cookbook author Coco Chastain.

Jenna whips up a delicious event amidst the
rowdy festivities, but the mood is soon broken by robberies, simmering tempers,
and a dead body—Coco’s editor, Alison. The suspects turn out to be more plentiful
than a pot full of gold doubloons, so to prove Coco isn’t responsible for the
dastardly deed, Jenna will have to stir up some clues and figure out who’s the
real sticky-fingered killer…

FUDGING THE BOOKS has garnered some terrific reviews.

"I have to say first of all that I love The Cookbook Nook Series. It is among my favorites. Also author Daryl Wood Gerber is one of the finest cozy writers around, regardless of genre’, she rocks! … Plenty of twists and turns, and all of them intelligent and feasible. Jenna isn’t weak nor does she search for answers with abandonment. She is sensible and thorough. And I want to be her friend."

Now very important to a book club - at least what I remember - is food! We always had delicious treats. Sweets seemed to be the preference. So I'm sharing a delicious recipe that can serve 9 or 27. How? Weird math! No, just kidding. You'll see.

We also sipped wine, cocktails, coffee, or tea. Check out the recipe for my "special" tea!

A few weeks ago, on this blog, I shared what might be the perfect "chocoate-y" treat for a book club event. It's called Pirate Booty Fudge, a recipe straight out of the book. CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK.

For those of you who prefer something fruity, I made up this easy, delicious peach raspberry coffee cake.This coffee cake cuts into 9 lovely large squares, or 3 small slices from each square perfect for a dainty bite! (See how the math works? 27 slices)

Yes, I know peaches are almost at their peak, but they're still good and sweet, and if they're cooked in a coffee cake...perfect.

PEACH RASPBERRY

CREAM CHEESE

COFFEE CAKE

(Gluten-free recipe here - *Regular flour option below)

Ingredients:

2/3 cup butter, melted

1 cup white sugar

1 tsp. vanillin (you may use
real vanilla if you have no reaction to it)

2 eggs, large

1 cup cream cheese

1 tsp. cider vinegar

2 cups gluten-free flour *

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon xanthan gum

Filling:

1/2 cup raspberries

1/2 cup sugar

2 peaches peeled and sliced

1 tsp. cinnamon, if desired

Topping:

¼ cup sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon, if desired

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 9 x 9 pan or line
with parchment paper.

For the batter:In a large bowl, mix melted butter and sugar
and vanillin (or vanilla).Add eggs and
beat on low.Still beating on low, add cream
cheese and vinegar.Then add the gluten-free
flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and xanthan gum and stir until
thoroughly mixed.

For the filling:In a small bowl, mix raspberries and peaches,
sugar and cinnamon (if desired).

Spoon half of the batter
into prepared pan. Pat down with your fingers. This is the fun part – like
working with play dough. (I wet my
fingers to make it easier.)

Layer all of the filling on
top of that.

Spread the rest of the
batter over the filling. Again, pat down with your fingers (wet, if necessary).

Bake for 30-35 minutes,
until nicely browned.

Mix the topping ingredients
and sprinkle topping all over the coffee cake.

Let cool for 20 minutes and
remove from the pan. Serve warm or room temperature.

* NOT GLUTEN-FREE OPTION: If you want to make this NOT gluten-free, switch out the gluten-free flour to regular flour and omit the xanthan gum!

And now for that "special" tea. If you want something refreshing to sip, try this tastySPARKLING PEACH TEA. I served it at my virtual launch party for FUDGING THE BOOKS. It's yummy!

Make the simple
syrup: combine the sugar and 1 cup water in a small saucepan and bring to a
boil. Cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and let
cool completely. [The recipe said it would make 1 ½ cups, but mine only made ¾
cup. Hmmm.]

Make the tea:
Steep all the tea bags in 3 cups hot water for 10 minutes. Remove the bags and
add 2 cups cold water.

Now, put the
chopped peach, ¾ cup simple syrup [like I said, that’s all mine made] and the
lemon juice into a blender and puree until smooth. Strain the mixture through a
fine-mesh strainer. Press it with a spoon to get all the pulp.

Stir together
the peach-simple syrup mixture and the iced tea. Pour half of the peach tea
into ice cube trays and freeze until sold. Refrigerate the remaining peach tea.

To make the
cocktails: fill a tall glass with the peach tea ice cubes. Pour ½ cup of peach
ice tea ove the ice. Top with Prosecco and a lemon slice!